Woman on Texas Death Row Gets Execution Date

HOUSTON (AP) — A woman on Texas death row has received an execution date.

Suzanne Basso is set to die early next year for the 1998 beating death of a 59-year-old mentally impaired man who was lured from New Jersey to the Houston area under the guise of a marriage promise. Evidence showed Basso or her son met Louis Musso at a church carnival in New Jersey and had him make her the beneficiary of his insurance policies.

Prosecutors say Basso was the ringleader of a group of six that tortured Louis Musso so badly at a home in Jacinto City, east of Houston, Musso was unrecognizable when he was found in a ditch by a jogger.

State District Judge Mary Lou Keel has set the 59-year-old Basso's execution for Feb. 5.